Mar 18, 2010
There are times when us podcast consultants use words that we feel everyone understands, but it crosses the line of geek speak and leave people asking, "What?" I take great strides trying to avoid doing this, so I found an example of some geek speak.
To get a decent sounding recording the first step is get a decent microphone. I recommend the Sure SM58 if your room is somewhat noisy, and the Audio technica 2020 if you room is very quiet. Then I typically recommend using a mixer just so you can (if nothing else) add treble and bass to your voice. There are lights that show your level at the mixer and you want these to be green and yellow, if it occasionally blinks red that should be ok. Be sure to be listening through headphones so you can hear yourself.
I typically send the tape out of the mixer into the line in of my computer. Now whatever computer software you are using SHOULD have some sort of meter. Again you should have green lights, yellow lights, and red lights. To get technical, at the top of the meter is a zero. When you go over zero the lights turn red. You do NOT want to go over 0. You do NOT want it to go in the red. If you go into the red the sound is distorted. I found a podcast called church leader insights and this was my first impression.
There is a master volume which adjust the levels of all the microphones you have plugged into the mixer. Then each microphone has a volume knob. This is called the channel volume. If the master volume is set to 10 o click, you would not want the channel volume to be 1 o clock (or higher than the master volume). This can cause distortion.
Wordpress.com as A Podcast Solution
I am working with a consulting client, and they had just started a podcast so they decided to use Wordpress.com. This version of wordpress is already installed and you can purchase additional space for your media files. However, all of the cool plugins that you hear about are limited to the plugins that wordpress.com allows people to use. The alternative is to host your Website on a website like coolerwebsites or host gator and install Wordpress on your own (it takes about 3 minutes and 7 mouse clicks - easy). I prefer and recommend people to use this method in the past so you have complete flexibility. However, after working with this client I can say I'm not impressed with Wordpress.com as a media host as well. Their reliability seemed suspect as files would sometime stream, and sometimes not. My client uploaded a file only to have it appear blank when I downloaded that site (I checked the original file, it's not). The bottom line was there were strange things happening at wordpress.com
Some people ask, "should I start here?" After all its very inexpensive, and its easier (as there are fewer options). The idea being that you can move once you decide to "stick" with podcasting. Well much like real life, moving is never fun. NEVER. It's not hard, but it's a pain in the butt. So let's look at the "Hassle" of going with your own hosted version of Wordpress. If you don't want to purchase a longer contract, Host Gator is 10 bucks a month. Let's say you use Libsyn for your media, that's 12 a month. So as you start you spend 22 bucks. If you go with the Wordpress.com version you put out 20 a year. Well, in theory, you're going to know if you want to stick with podcasting within the first month. If you are you're going to want to have your own hosted version anyway, so why not start there if spend the extra two bucks. If you stick with it, sure it will be another 22 bucks next month, but the good news is IT WORKS. Then you can call Host Gator, and change your account and only pay 5 bucks a month.
2 Buck Themes - Great Segway Royalty Free Music
In this episode, I show how you can use music to transition between topics. By having the music come in towards the end of a segment a person listening knows that when the music comes up that segments is also over (and they can stop fast forwarding if they were not interested in that segment). I've been using Mike Stewart's Two Buck Themes which gives you 5 different themes each month for $10 (hence 2 bucks each).
If you need one on one Podcast Consulting, or if you're ready to learn to podcast using our Step By Step Podcasting Tutorials, then Dave Jackson can be your personal podcast coach. Start podcasting today, cause if you don't your competition will.